ZWO Seestar S50 Smart Telescope vs Celestron NexStar 8SE

The Seestar S50 is a self-contained smart scope: it images, stacks and sends photos to your phone with almost no setup, which is why beginners and casual astrophotographers like it. The NexStar 8SE is a real 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain with far more light grasp and resolution, so it shows faint deep-sky objects and fine lunar and planetary detail the S50 cannot. Owners praise the 8SE's optics and GoTo tracking but note it is heavy, needs alignment and is not a point-and-shoot imager. Buy the S50 for easy imaging; buy the 8SE for visual reach and detail.

• Choose the Seestar S50 if you want to photograph nebulae and galaxies from a phone with no alignment ritual and a scope you can carry in one hand.
• Choose the NexStar 8SE if you want the most light grasp and resolution for visual observing of planets, the Moon and faint deep-sky objects.